Hulder
by Salmiakki Skittles
Summary: Tino and Niklas spending time with one another, lazy days and coffee soon spirals into a storytelling session. Basically just a little bit of NorFin fluff.


Niklas had been waiting for his guest to return from the kitchen, the other had insisted on visiting him, but as any true host would do with anybody they've known over half their lives, sent the other to make himself a coffee. Tino's eyes glistened with an almost-childlike hope, smiling softly as he awaited the Norwegian's reply as he sat down beside him, holding the warm mug between his cold hands then asked.

"Niklas… Would you mind telling me the story again?"

The Norwegian raised an eyebrow lightly in curiosity, taking a small sip from his own cooling coffee before clearing his voice quietly. The cold had been creating a slow, numbing feeling in his fingers, something he hadn't wanted the Finn to have to deal with, hence why he had requested the other make himself a drink before settling down into the living room. Despite this, Niklas hadn't figured that Tino would have realised his reasoning yet though.

"Which story is that being? I've told you a number of them, haven't I?"

A soft chuckle came from Tino, nodding softly as he noted the slight smile the other held. It was true, on more than one occasion he would ask the other to tell him various stories. Sometimes about different folktales from many years ago, other times about creatures and their various oddities.

"Hmm… Let me be thinking about that. Well… How about…"

Tino paused, tapping a single finger against the ceramic cup as he sat in contemplation, slowly drifting further and further into his trail of thought. Niklas had grown accustom to it, the Finn would often to this, even in the middle of a shopping centre when the two were attempting to find ingredients for a cake for his younger brother's birthday. Tino had simply stopped mid-isle and begun listing aloud the ingredients they had needed to purchase, despite Niklas having wrote down a list beforehand. The way that his eyes filled with an innocent curiosity made the Norwegian's heart flutter in an odd way today, that hadn't happened before.

"Ohh… I know! How about the one with the hulder?"

Taking a moment to remember which story the Finn had been referring to, Niklas gave a slight nod and set down the coffee onto the small table beside the sofa. It was reaching that unpleasantly lukewarm state regardless. Tino's eyes shone happily at the motion. Shuffling into a slightly more comfortable position, his eyes eagerly waited for the Norwegian to begin.

"In the forests of Norway, there are many creatures. All of different types and demeanours. One of such are the hulder, forest dwellers in the shape of women except for two features, a cow's tail and a hollow back like that of an old Eik tree. They are said to possess extraordinary beauty, meaning men who unknowingly come across them, they lured by the charms of the hulder."

Tino nodded softly, immersed in the story. He softly laid his head on the Norwegian's shoulder, the other blonde merely raising an eyebrow in curiosity, but didn't respond to the motion.

"There are stories of what have happened to these men, some of which are less than fortunate. If a man were to take a Hulder woman for his wife, the moment she enters the church, she would in most cases loose her extraordinary beauty, but always her tail. A young man, knowing of these stories about the hulder women, had once set out in hopes of finding one to wed."

Niklas' voice had been soft, dream-like in a way. The Finn would never had admitted that even though he loved the stories the other told, there was just a certain thing about the Norwegian's voice that had stirred something inside of Tino. At first he had simply shrugged it off as the other blonde's descriptions, after all he was able to see such creatures himself, although each time it only seemed to grow stronger.

"This boy, a young farmer from Sigdal, had come across one on his homeward journey from a neighbouring village. Infatuated with her beauty, he approached her and presented her with a handful of nearby wildflowers and a smile. Taken by his confidence and positive reaction to her, the hulder accepted his proposal on a single condition. 'You are not to tell anybody of me,' she said, 'For I put my trust into you.' With that, she had disappeared back into the forest once more. The young boy had returned to his village with haste, the recount of the situation spilling from his lips as quick as water spills from a rusted through bucket. Within a week, all in the village had heard of the braggart's marriage plans."

The Norwegian had glanced down at Tino, who still had his head rested upon Niklas' shoulder, his eyes closed softly with a relaxed smile across his face. It was endearing in a way. A bout of courage flooding though him, Niklas slowly ran his left hand through the other blonde's hair. It had been softer than he had imagined, almost like silk in a way. A light smile of his own touching his lips, he rested his arm around Tino's shoulder as he continued.

"This had continued for an entire year, until one day when the boy had been travelling through the same forest which he had met the hulder in, she appeared to him once again. Her tail flicking dangerously as he walked closer towards her in naïve excitement. 'Ohh, my love!' He exclaimed, widening his arms to embrace her when instead he had felt the crack of the tail whipping against his leg. 'A braggart such as yourself isn't deserving of me, a single request that I ask of you, and you deny such.' Her frowned deepened as the boy had opened his mouth in protest, meeting the action with a beating behind both of the boy's ears with her tail. 'I wish you luck bragging once more, when you're unable to hear your own words.' The hulder had disappeared with such, leaving him alone within the forest with a throbbing and his screams of pain inaudible to his very ears. That is why it is said to best leave the huldra to their own devices, for when they're deceived or betrayed, their punishments are harsher than that of men."

Tino stirred slightly, eyes opening sleepily as Niklas' own violet ones looked down at the Finn forced himself from his borderline-sleeping state. The taller male let out a soft chuckle, shifting his weight a little to help Tino sit upright.

"I'm really sorry. I wasn't meaning to be falling asleep."

His words were soon followed by a deep yawn, stretching out his shoulders as much as the little space between the arm of the sofa and the Norwegian would allow. Rubbing his eyes one final time, the Finn smiled cheerfully then tried hiding a light laugh at a thought which had come to mind.

"You know what? You are reminding me of a hulder in a way."

Niklas looked back towards Tino with a confused expression, not quite grasping the meaning behind his words. Had he meant that his temper was like that of one? Or was it the allusiveness he practiced when trying to avoid a certain neighbouring Dane. The bewildered expression in his eyes was the only indication of his confusion, from a distance, this would have appeared as any other expression that the man would habour.

"Is it being my behaviour..?"

Shaking his head softly, Tino grinned cheekily. Inching closer towards the other before leaning over to whisper into Niklas' ear.

"Ei, it's being your appearance. You are looking too attractive to be human, so you must be one of the hulders. Ohh! Look at the time, I must be off now~"

With that, Tino had pressed a feather-light kiss onto his cheek then quickly scrambled up off of the sofa, hiding his face away from Niklas, so that the other couldn't see the tinge of pink that his cheeks had taken on after his comment. It was only a matter of minutes before it had been as if the Finn hadn't been visiting at all, besides the empty coffee mug and the deepened confusion of the Norwegian. So much, that he hadn't even realised Tino's incorrect use of the plural of hulder until about ten minutes of silence had passed.

"It's huldra…"


End file.
